Crypto Hardware Support

The configuration file has a keyword, UseCryptoHardware, that governs the use of crypto hardware. The available support depends on the processor model and on the devices that are installed. In the table below, CPACF is standard on z890, z990, and z9 machines but is not available on other machines. The CCA column includes the following devices: CCF, PCICC, PCIXCC and CEX2. The Accelerator column includes the PCICA device, PCIXCC and CEX2.

CPACF

CCA

Accelerator

3DES-CBC

x

x

AES128-CBC

x*

SHA1

x

RNG

x

[RSA]

[x]

[x]

[DH]

[x]

RACF certificate

x

* Hardware support for AES is only available on System z9.

If any crypto hardware devices are to be used, the machine or the LPAR must be enabled for cryptography.

Note: The current release has no hardware support for RSA or DH.

The table below shows, for each argument of the UseCryptoHardware variable, the names of the resource profiles in the CSFSERV class that users must have access to.

UseCryptoHardware

Resources

3DES-CBC

CSFCKM, CSFENC, CSFDEC *

AES128-CBC

–

SHA1

CSFOWH

RNG

CSFRNG

* The resources shown for 3DES are not required on machines that have the CPACF feature.

FIPS Mode

FIPS mode is enabled when the IBM crypto hardware is used. FIPS mode is currently not available in SSH Tectia Server for IBM z/OS when the software crypto library is used.

Thus, if the UseCryptoHardware keyword defines algorithms for hardware acceleration, the FIPS mode is automatically enabled for the defined algorithms and cryptographic operations are performed according to the rules of the FIPS 140-2 certification standard. In all other configurations, FIPS mode is disabled.